share:

DVDs from TCM Shop

OVERVIEW

powered by AFI

Brief Synopsis

A con artist falls for the rich widow he's trying to fleece.

On his release from the army hospital on Governor's Island in New York, former confidence man Nick Blake learns that his girl friend, Toni Blackburn, has opened a nightclub using money that he gave her for safe keeping while he was in the service. Together with his partner, Al Doyle, Nick visits the club, where Toni informs him that she lost his investment during the club's first year and then sold the club to Chet King. When Nick discovers that Toni is also romantically involved with King, he forces King to return his money with interest. Nick and Al then leave for Los Angeles, where they contact Pop Gruber, another confidence man. Although Nick insists that he does not want to work for a while, Pop learns that Doc Ganson has targeted a wealthy widow for a swindle and, with Al's help, persuades Nick to participate. Using the name Nick Lloyd, Nick checks into the same hotel where Gladys Halvorsen, the widow, is staying with her business manager, Charles Manning. To Nick's surprise, Gladys is beautiful and charming, and soon he is spending a great deal of time with her. He succeeds in interesting Manning in his fictitious salvage business, but stops short of actually taking Gladys' money. During a trip to the mission at San Juan Capistrano, Nick is reminded of the ruined churches that he saw in Italy during the war and starts to question his involvement in the swindle. His doubts are intensified by the fact that he has fallen in love with Gladys. When Doc and Nick's other partners demand that he close the deal and pay them their share, he decides to pay them off with his own money and leave town. In the meantime, Manning has grown suspicious and discovered Nick's real identity. At first Gladys refuses to believe the allegations, but when she confronts Nick, he admits the truth, adding that he really does love her. When Toni, who is now in Los Angeles, hears what Nick intends to do, she believes that he will marry Gladys for her money. She tells Doc her theory, and Doc demands that Nick pay him thirty percent of Gladys' entire two million dollar fortune rather than the thirty thousand he was promised for the swindle. When Nick refuses, Doc and his men kidnap Gladys. Pop, Al and Nick find the deserted pier where Doc is holding her, and Pop and Doc are killed in the ensuing shootout. The police arrive in time to arrest the rest of the gang, and Nick and Gladys are now free to pursue their romance.